Business Blog Posts

* Futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were all up 0.3 percent at 0855 GMT.

* The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of leading European shares was up 0.3 percent, with traders cautious ahead of an expected rate rise by the European Central Bank.

* The euro fell broadly on Thursday as investors looked beyond the rate rise to focus on the worsening euro zone debt crisis.

* The ADP national employment report was expected to show U.S. private hiring increased 68,000 in June after 38,000 in May, a month that probably took the brunt of temporary factors such as layoffs from auto shutdowns. It will also give a valuable signal regarding the relative health of the service sector labor market. The ADP report comes ahead of Friday's closely watched non-farm payrolls data.

* Weekly initial jobless claims were expected to have fallen slightly to 420,000 in the week ending July 2, from claims of 428,000 the prior week.

* After weeks of impasse, President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders were aiming for "something big" when they resume budget talks on Thursday to avert an imminent default. [nN1E76523G]

* More U.S. consumers had trouble making payments on credit cards and other debts during the first three months of the year due to higher food and gas prices, an industry report said. [nN1E7651VT]

* The New York Stock Exchange was expected to take a crucial step toward ceding control to a German company on Thursday, with little opposition expected from investors. NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) shareholders were voting on whether to back a $9.4 billion takeover of the company that owns the NYSE by Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE). The deal was expected to get the needed 50 percent majority support from investors, including T. Rowe Price and other big U.S. fund companies.

* U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday even though data showed weaker growth in the services sector, with traders saying markets had an "upward bias" after last week's surge.

* The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 56.15 points, or 0.45 percent, at 12,626.02, the highest close since mid-May. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was up 1.34 points, or 0.10 percent, at 1,339.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 8.25 points, or 0.29 percent, at 2,834.02.

(Reporting by Brian Gorman; Editing by Dan Lalor)

Banks will meet with lobbying group the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in Rome on Thursday, an Italian Treasury source said.

Thursday's meeting follows similar talks organized by the IIF in Paris on Wednesday at which "a menu of options" was discussed for involving private sector creditors in an aid package for Greece, according to Charles Dallara, the managing director of the bank lobby group.

The officials are trying to work out a solution which would enable private sector creditors to take part in a voluntary deal which would not be defined as a default by ratings agencies but agreement is proving complicated.

A French proposal for a rollover in which bondholders would reinvest at least 70 percent of the proceeds from bonds maturing before the end of 2014 in new 30-year Greek debt has run into ratings agency objections.

Officials are now looking at a broader range of options.

"There's going to be an exchange of views on developments so far and the solutions currently on the table for the involvement of private creditors," the Treasury source said.

"Different possibilities will be discussed, not just one solution," the source added.

The meeting will be chaired by Vittorio Grilli, director general of the Italian Treasury, in his capacity as chairman of the European Union Economic and Financial Committee.

Officials from the European Central Bank and the Greek government as well as international and Italian banking executives will attend, the source said.

An EU source also confirmed the meeting will take place in Rome and EU representatives will be attending, however, no representative from any of the ratings agencies is expected to be present.

On Thursday, Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager was quoted by the daily Het Financieele Dagblad as saying that private sector banks must be pressured into taking part in a bailout as a voluntary deal was not realistic.

(Reporting by Francesca Landini; editing by Patrick Graham)

NYSE Euronext shareholders are voting on whether to back a $9.4 billion takeover of the company that owns the NYSE by Deutsche Boerse AG. The deal is expected to get the needed 50 percent majority support from investors, including T. Rowe Price and other big U.S. fund companies.

The vote is set to begin at 8:00 a.m. Eastern.

The exchanges have promoted the deal as a merger of equals -- in part because it allows Big Board Chief Executive Duncan Niederauer to run the combined entity. The larger Frankfurt-based bourse, however, would control 10 of 17 board positions, while its shareholders will own roughly 60 percent of a yet-to-be-named Netherlands-based holding company.

If roadblocks to the blockbuster deal emerge, they are likely to come from Europe. The deal requires approval from 75 percent of Deutsche Boerse shareholders by Wednesday of next week and then would have to survive a thorny European Commission antitrust review that could run through the rest of the year.

The tie-up between NYSE and the German exchange was announced in February amid a flurry of cross-border deal attempts by exchanges eager to cut costs and diversify in the face of fast-eroding market shares in their traditional stock-trading businesses.

The London Stock Exchange Group Plc and Canada's TMX Group Inc headed into negotiations, as did the Singapore Exchange Ltd and Australia's ASX Ltd. One by one, however, those and other deals collapsed, shattered by political and nationalistic resistance.

NYSE Euronext itself was the target of an unsolicited counter-bid in April from archrival Nasdaq OMX Group Inc and its commodities partner, the IntercontinentalExchange Inc in April. The aggressors retreated in May after being rejected by the U.S. Department of Justice over antitrust concerns.

A NYSE-Deutsche Boerse combination would produce a behemoth that offers trades in virtually every U.S. and European asset class, with annual trading volume exceeding $20 trillion. It also explains why European antitrust regulators are expected to take a close look at the near lock the company would have on exchange-traded derivatives -- and possibly demand some divestitures or other concessions.

There have been few public critics of the deal in the United States, despite the NYSE's symbolism as a bastion of American capitalism. The exchange was founded in 1792 when share trading began under a buttonwood tree on a block now designated as Wall Street.

To woo votes, Niederauer and his Deutsche Boerse counterpart, Reto Francioni, have been telling shareholders they expect to achieve cost savings from the combination of at least 500 million euros ($715 million), ramped up from an initial projection of 300 million euros ($429 million). They also have promised a special dividend of 2 euros per share ($2.86 per share) after the deal closes.

Under the terms of the deal, Francioni would be chairman of the combined entity.

NYSE shares are up nearly 15 percent this year, but have fallen about 9.7 percent since the exchange said it was in advanced talks on February 9. Deutsche Boerse shares are down 8.9 percent since February 9 and up 2.8 percent year to date.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; additional reporting by Paritosh Bansal; editing by Jed Horowitz and Andre Grenon)

Most equity markets in the region posted slight gains following a rise on Wall Street as investors looked beyond the latest bout of nervousness over the euro zone debt crisis after Moody's slash in the ratings of Portugal sparked a selloff in peripheral bonds.

The sharp drop in the bonds of Portugal and Greece came just a week after investors had breathed a sigh of relief that Greece had passed tough austerity measures needed to win a near-term bailout, thereby avoiding a default.

The ECB is widely expected to lift rates for a second time this year to 1.5 percent but then also step back for a few months as it battles with the debt crisis and sticks to a hardline view of trying to avoid an outright default.

"The ECB is set to hike policy rates by 25 basis points today, but the recent deterioration in market sentiment should at least argue for more caution moving ahead," said market analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in a note to clients.

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.2 percent in early trade, pushing back near a one-month peak.

Bank shares helped lead gains in Hong Kong as investors judged that the People's Bank of China is getting closer to taking a break from its multiple increases in policy rates and bank reserve requirements as the economy shows signs of losing steam.

The Hang Seng index .HSI edged up 0.3 percent, recouping some of the losses from the previous day when a sale of Chinese bank shares by Singapore sovereign fund Temasek prompted a broad drop. China Construction Bank (0939.HK), one of the banks sold by Temasek on Wednesday, was up 0.3 percent.

But the Shanghai Composite .SSEC gave up early gains and fell 0.5 percent on a slide in energy stocks.

Japan's Nikkei average .N225 dipped 0.1 percent, slipping back after a push through chart resistance the previous day to a four-month high sparked buying by model funds.

The Australian dollar jumped after data showed a robust increase in June employment showed the economy was holding up well despite recent reports showing households becoming more cautious on spending.

The Aussie was up 0.4 percent against the dollar at $1.0736, while the euro was steady at $1.4320.

Gold prices were little changed at $1,528.20 an ounce, while U.S. crude oil was up 66 cents to $97.31 a barrel.

(Editing by Ramya Venugopal)

The bank, however, claimed a partial victory, citing District Judge Rya Zobel's decision to dismiss claims by borrowers who sought to participate in the two-year-old Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP.

Zobel nonetheless ruled that homeowners who contend they did not get modifications for which they qualified under HAMP, to avoid foreclosures, could pursue claims against Bank of America.

The complaint "meticulously" detailed each of these plaintiffs' compliance with loan modification conditions, but said the bank "willfully failed" to modify the loans, either in bad faith or for its own economic benefit, Zobel wrote. Such allegations are "sufficient" to let the lawsuit go forward, she added.

Zobel rejected claims by borrowers who claimed they were "intended beneficiaries" of HAMP but never entered the program, saying they had no contractual right to relief.

She also rejected a request to block Bank of America while the lawsuit is pending from foreclosing on 37 borrowers said to be in "imminent danger" of losing their homes.

In a statement, Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton said the company is pleased that four of the eight counts in the complaint were dismissed.

The lawsuit combines 26 cases that had been brought in 19 states, and sought class-action status for various plaintiffs.

"The Court's conclusions will likely help hundreds of thousands of families to convert temporary mortgage modification plans into permanently lower monthly payments. Tens of thousands of foreclosures are likely to be prevented," said Gary Klein, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, adding that he expects the case to get class certification quickly.

Last week, Bank of America said it would take $20 billion of charges for various mortgage matters, including over its 2008 purchase of Countrywide Financial Corp.

Like several rivals, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank has also been in talks with state and federal regulators to resolve claims over alleged foreclosure abuses.

HAMP was created in 2009 as a centerpiece of efforts by the Obama administration to boost the nation's housing sector.

While it provides incentives to loan servicers to encourage modifications, HAMP has been widely derided as ineffective.

Through May, 731,451 borrowers had received permanent loan modifications, far below the original goal of 3 million to 4 million.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted in March to wind down the program, though the Democrat-controlled Senate is not expected to follow.

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo & Co are the largest servicers participating in HAMP.

The case is In re: Bank of America Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) Contract Litigation, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 10-md-02193.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; editing by Carol Bishopric)